Presenting search results in a dynamically formatted graphical user interface

ABSTRACT

A content provider can provide content, such as advertisements or other promotional material, to a recipient. A distribution system of the content provider can receive a query and select one or more advertisements and a user interface for presenting the advertisements based on the query, information associated with the user, a set of queries received from the user, and/or other information. A model for selecting the user interface can be generated by serving available user interfaces randomly or pseudo-randomly and monitoring user interaction with the served user interfaces. The model can be updated during regular use based on the performance of the user interfaces.

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.15/474,468, filed Mar. 30, 2017 and issued as U.S. Pat. No. 10,902,495,which claims priority to U.S. application Ser. No. 13/179,055, filedJul. 8, 2011 and entitled “Selecting User Interface for PresentingContent,” Applicant claims priority to and the benefit of each of suchapplications and incorporates all such applications herein by referencein their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to dynamic graphical userinterface formats for presenting selected search results.

BACKGROUND

Computer networks, such as the Internet, enable transmission andreception of a vast array of information. In recent years, for example,some service provider systems have attempted to make product informationavailable to clients over the Internet. It is becoming increasinglypopular for information providers to provide mechanisms by which userscan search for and compare item information across multiple providers.For example, Internet sites allow users to search for and compareinformation for items across multiple providers.

Some Internet sites also provide additional content to assist users inlearning more about the items and service providers that the user isresearching. To better help users with this process, conventional richformats associated with the additional content often present a myriad ofinformation, such as images, descriptive information, and an itemrating. Such information typically is presented in a standard format asprovided in the web page, where additional content placed in the sameformat into the web page each time. Additionally, additional content cantake up valuable space and attention on a search page or another type ofweb page presenting the additional content. Thus, being frugal anddirected about what information to present may be difficult.

Users researching an item may be at different stages in their researchprocess and desire different information depending on the stage at whichthey are in the search process. For example, a user that has beenresearching a particular pair of shoes may desire pricing andpromotional information for that particular pair of shoes, while a usersearching for a general type of shoe may desire images and productrating information on a multitude of shoes. Therefore, it is desirableto provide relevant content as well as relevant types of content in aformat that is desirable to the user.

SUMMARY

In certain exemplary embodiments, a method for providing search resultsincludes receiving a query at a computer. The computer selects one ormore search results for transmission in response to the query. Thecomputer selects a user interface for presenting the one or moreselected search results. The user interface is selected from availableuser interfaces based upon information contained in the query. Thecomputer transmits information regarding the one or more selected searchresults and information regarding the selected user interface.

In certain exemplary embodiments, a system for providing contentincludes a receiver that can receive a request for search results. Acontent module selects content for transmission in response to therequest. A user interface selection module selects a user interface forpresenting the selected content. The user interface is selected fromavailable user interfaces based upon information contained in therequest. A communication module transmits information regarding the oneor more selected content and information regarding the selected userinterface.

These and other aspects, objects, features, and advantages of theexemplary embodiments will become apparent to those having ordinaryskill in the art upon consideration of the following detaileddescription of illustrated exemplary embodiments, which include the bestmode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts a system for providing content, in accordance withcertain exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram depicting a method for providing content,in accordance with certain exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram depicting a method for generating a modelfor selecting a user interface, in accordance with certain exemplaryembodiments.

FIG. 4 depicts a user interface having advertisements, in accordancewith certain exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 5 depicts a user interface having advertisements, in accordancewith certain exemplary embodiments.

FIG. 6 depicts a user interface having advertisements, in accordancewith certain exemplary embodiments.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS Overview

The methods and systems described herein enable a content provider toserve advertisements or other content to a recipient in a context orquery relevant way. To contend with the varying requirements or desiresof each query or each user, the methods and systems described hereinselect and present different user interface variations to users based oncertain information, such as information obtained from one or morequeries, and/or information associated with the user, such asdemographic information, past query information, and/or past interactionwith advertisements. Performance information for the user interfaces inrelation to specific queries and in relation to particular individualscan be logged and used to improve the performance of the user interfaceselection.

An exemplary system includes a product catalog system and anadvertisement distribution system, each implemented in hardware and/orsoftware. The product catalog system provides product information to arecipient in response to a request, for example, in response to a searchquery. The product catalog system receives information regardingproducts from multiple merchants and stores the received information ina product catalog. Generally, this information includes, for eachproduct, a title, a description, one or more images, a price, a productcategory, and a product identifier, such as a global trade item number(“GTIN”), an international standard book number (“ISBN”), a universalproduct code (“UPC”), a European article number (“EAN”), a stock-keepingunit (“SKU”), or other suitable identifier. As used throughout thisspecification, the term “product” should be interpreted to includetangible and intangible products, as well as services. For simplicity,manufacturers, retailers, and others that sell products or services tocustomers are interchangeably referred to herein as “merchants.”

The advertisement distribution system provides advertisements or othercontent selections to the recipient. In one embodiment, the content canbe selected based in whole or in part on a search query received fromthe recipient. The advertisement distribution system also selects a userinterface, template, or presentation format for presenting theadvertisement to the recipient based on the search query and/or otherinformation, such as one or more previous search queries received fromthe recipient, previous advertisement selections received from therecipient, demographic information of the recipient, performanceinformation of the user interface for a query or for the recipient,information regarding the products subject to the advertisements, suchas price, product type, brand and information, and/or types of contentavailable for the advertisements, such as images, videos, discountinformation, sales information, or product review information. Theadvertisements also can be selected based on information regardingsearch results, such as other advertisements sent to the recipient,information regarding the web sites included with the search results,and information regarding the query or query session, such as querycategory, broadness of the query, related queries, and keywordsassociated with the query. For example, the advertisement distributionsystem may serve several advertisements to a recipient in a userinterface having images for products only, in response to the recipientsearching based on product style or appearance. In another example, theadvertisement distribution system may serve several advertisements to arecipient in the form of a list of relevant products and theircorresponding prices in response to the recipient submitting a specificquery. In another example, the advertisement distribution system mayserve one or more advertisements in a first format and one or moreadditional advertisements in a second format, different than the firstformat.

The advertisement distribution system also may select and/or change thecontent of advertisements based on the abovementioned information orbased on user interaction with the advertisements. For example, theadvertisement distribution system may remove images from displayedadvertisement in response to a user selection an advertisement that doesnot include images or in response to the user refining a search query toa search query whereby images are not relevant.

Users may be allowed to limit or otherwise affect the operation of thefeatures disclosed in the specification. For example, users may be givenopportunities to opt-in or opt-out of the collection or use of certaindata or the activation of certain features. In addition, users may begiven the opportunity to change the manner in which the features areemployed, including for situations in which users may have concernsregarding their privacy. Instructions also may be provided to users tonotify them regarding policies about the use of information, includingpersonally identifiable information, and manners in which they mayaffect such use of information. Thus, sensitive personal information canbe used to benefit a user, if desired, through receipt of advertisementsor other information relevant to the user, without risking disclosure ofpersonal information or the user's identity.

One or more aspects of the exemplary embodiments may include a computerprogram that embodies the functions described and illustrated herein,wherein the computer program is implemented in a computer system thatcomprises instructions stored in a machine-readable medium and aprocessor that executes the instructions. However, it should be apparentthat there could be many different ways of implementing the exemplaryembodiments in computer programming, and the exemplary embodimentsshould not be construed as limited to anyone set of computer programinstructions. Further, a skilled programmer would be able to write sucha computer program to implement an embodiment based on the appended flowcharts and associated description in the application text. Therefore,disclosure of a particular set of program code instructions is notconsidered necessary for an adequate understanding of how to make anduse the exemplary embodiments. The functionality of the exemplaryembodiments will be explained in more detail in the followingdescription, read in conjunction with the figures illustrating theprogram flow.

Turning now to the drawings, in which like numerals indicate like (butnot necessarily identical) elements throughout the figures, exemplaryembodiments are described in detail.

System Architecture

With reference to FIG. 1 , a system 100 for providing content can beused to provide content to an individual. As depicted in FIG. 1 , thesystem 100 includes network devices 105, 110, and 155 that areconfigured to communicate with one another via one or more networks 107.Each network 107 includes a wired or wireless telecommunication means bywhich network devices (including devices 105, 110, 155) can exchangedata. For example, each network 107 can include a local area network(“LAN”), a wide area network (“WAN”), an intranet, an Internet, a mobiletelephone network, or any combination thereof. Throughout the discussionof exemplary embodiments, it should be understood that the terms “data”and “information” are used interchangeably herein to refer to text,images, audio, video, or any other form of information that can exist ina computer-based environment.

Each network device 105, 110, 155 includes a device having acommunication module capable of transmitting and receiving data over thenetwork 107. For example, each network device 105, 110, 155 can includea server, desktop computer, laptop computer, tablet computer,smartphone, handheld computer, personal digital assistant (“PDA”), orany other wired or wireless, processor-driven device. In the exemplaryembodiment depicted in FIG. 1 , the network devices 105, 110, 155 areoperated by merchants, an information provider, and an end usercustomer, respectively

The end user network devices 155 each include a browser applicationmodule 160, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, Netscape,Google Chrome, or another suitable application for interacting with webpage files maintained by the information provider network device 110and/or other network devices. The web page files can include text,graphics, images, sound, video, and other multimedia or data files thatcan be transmitted via the network 107. For example, the web page filescan include one or more files in the Hypertext Markup Language (“HTML”).The browser application module 160 can receive web page files from theinformation provider network device 110 and can display web page filesto an end user operating the end user network device 155. In certainexemplary embodiments, the web page files include information from aproduct catalog 145, which is maintained by a product catalog system140. In certain exemplary embodiments, the web page files include one ormore advertisements or other content from an advertisement repository127, maintained by an advertisement distribution system 120. Theadvertisement distribution system 120 and the product catalog system 140are described in more detail hereinafter with reference to the methoddepicted in FIG. 2 .

System Process

FIG. 2 is a block flow diagram depicting a method 200 for providingcontent, in accordance with certain exemplary embodiments. The method200 is described with reference to the components illustrated in FIG. 1.

In block 205, the product catalog system maintains the product catalog145. The product catalog includes a data structure, such as one or moredatabases and/or electronic records, that includes information regardingproducts from at least one merchant 105. For each product, theinformation in the product catalog 145 can include, for example, atitle, a description, one or more images, a price, a product category, aproduct identifier, such as a GTIN, an ISBN, a UPC, an EAN, an SKU, orother suitable identifier, product reviews, and/or any other suitableinformation associated with a product.

In certain exemplary embodiments, a receiver module (not shown) of theproduct catalog system 140 receives information that is included in theproduct catalog 145 in electronic feeds and/or hard copy provided by oneor more merchants 105 and/or another information source, such as aspecialized information aggregator. For example, each merchant 105and/or another information source may periodically provide batched orunbatched product data in an electronic feed to the receiver module. Thereceiver module also may receive product information from scannedproduct documentation and/or catalogs. In certain exemplary embodiments,the receiver module may receive product data from a screen scrapingmechanism, which is included in or associated with the product catalogsystem 140. For example, the screen scraping mechanism may captureproduct information from merchant and/or information provider web sites.In certain exemplary embodiments, end users may view information fromthe product catalog via browsers 160 on their respective end usernetwork devices 155. In certain exemplary embodiments, end users maysearch for products, merchants, or information related to products bysubmitting a query to the product catalog via the browsers 160.

In block 210, the advertisement distribution system 120 maintains theadvertisement repository 127. Similar to the product catalog 145, theadvertisement repository 127 includes a data structure, such as one ormore databases and/or one or more electronic records, that includesadvertisements. Alternatively, the advertisements are maintained by therespective advertisers, such as the merchants 105. The advertisementscan include text, images, audio, video creatives, or any other form ofinformation that can exist in a computer based environment. Theadvertisements can include any type of content, including coupons,discounts, offers, product ratings, product reviews, pricinginformation, inventory or availability of a product, product categoryinformation, and merchant location information, to name a few examples.

In block 215, the advertisement distribution system 120 maintains theuser interface repository 129. The user interface repository 129includes a data structure, such as one or more databases and/or one ormore electronic records, that includes user interfaces, templates, orformats for displaying one or more advertisements or informationregarding one or more advertisements. Generally, each user interfacedefines what information of the advertisements to provide to a recipientand how that information is presented. Each user interface can presentone or more of images, videos, audio, text, product title, productdescription, product ratings or reviews, inventory or availability,promotional offers, discounts, coupons, merchant location information,options to “see more from the advertiser,” links to further searchrefinements, and any other suitable information included in theadvertisements. Each user interface may include a template forpresenting content and the template may be populated with informationregarding one or more advertisements when presented to an individual.For example, some user interfaces may include a template for displayingseveral advertisements, each displayed advertisement including one ormore product images, while certain other user interfaces may include atemplate for displaying several advertisements, each displayedadvertisement including a product title, product description, andproduct rating information.

In certain exemplary embodiments, each user interface or template alsodefines the number of advertisements and the way in which theadvertisements are displayed by the end user network device 155. Forexample, a user interface may display three advertisements on the rightside or bottom of a web page document that contains other content.

One exemplary user interface displays images of products only, withoutany text or other forms of content, or with a small portion of othercontent only. An individual searching for products based on style orappearance may prefer to view images of products rather than informationrelated to product pricing, description, or ratings. For example, anindividual that submits a search query for “red sports car” may preferto view images of relevant cars in advertisements rather than viewingadvertisements having a description of particular cars and promotionalinformation. A user interface may display this information in a formatthat provides the desired information.

Another user interface displays information regarding multiple products,without displaying any images. An individual may prefer to view detailedinformation regarding products or pricing or discount information whilenot being interested in images of the product. For example, anindividual searching for a specific product, such as an “oil filter for2001 Toyota Tundra” may not desire to see images. Instead, such anindividual may desire to view prices and availability information at amultitude of merchants in the area of the individual. A user interfacemay display this information in a different format, such as a list,table, or grid format, to name a few examples.

Yet another exemplary user interface focuses one a single merchant only.Such a user interface may be beneficial when there is a single, dominantmerchant for a search query, for a set of search queries, or for a user.For example, an individual may search for “concert tickets in SanFrancisco.” In response, a user interface having yet another differentformat may be provided that displays information regarding upcomingconcerts in San Francisco and tickets offered by a single ticket vendor.

Yet another exemplary user interface includes more interactivity. Forexample, the user interface may include scrolling or paging mechanismsthat enable an individual to scroll the advertisement to view additionalinformation. In another example, the user interface may include searchquery refinement buttons that present search refinements and enable anindividual to refine their initial or a previous search query. In yetanother example, the user interface may include refinement buttons tosearch or sort information presented by the user interface, for example,by price or product features. Each of these different user interfacesrepresents a different format in which to present the search results.

In certain exemplary embodiments, rather than select from available userinterfaces, the advertisement distribution system 120 generates the userinterface dynamically. In such embodiments, the advertisementdistribution system 120 may decide which of the available types ofadvertisement content to present to the recipient. For example, theadvertisement distribution system 120 may determine to display certaincontent, such as an image, while determining not to display certainother content, such as product rating information. This determinationmay be based on the same information used to select from available userinterfaces discussed above. Then, the advertisement distribution systemcreates a user interface having a format for presenting the desiredinformation.

In block 220, a model or a set of rules for selecting a user interfacefor presenting advertisements to a recipient is generated. In oneexemplary embodiment, a set of human defined rules are generated andstored in a rules engine of a user interface selector module 125 of theadvertisement distribution system 120. The set of rules can include amultitude of criteria by which to select a user interface. A simple setof rules may analyze information regarding a single query received froman individual in determining which user interface to select. A morecomplex set of rules may include criteria for analyzing informationregarding historical queries received from the individual, incombination with the received search query information. For example, theset of rules may consider how many related queries have been receivedfrom the individual. The set of rules also may consider which merchants,advertisers, or advertisements perform well or receive the highestamount of clicks for a specific query, for a category of query, for aspecific chain of queries, for the individual, or for individuals havingsimilar demographics as the individual. The set of rules also mayconsider information regarding multiple queries received from the userand/or which advertisements have previously been selected by theindividual. Regardless of the specific set of rules, the object of therules are to determine for what the individual is searching and toselect a user interface that presents content that the individual islikely to select and in a manner that is relevant and contains theappropriate type of content for the user.

In one exemplary embodiment, a model generator module 121 of theadvertisement distribution system 120 generates a model for selecting auser interface from the user interface repository 129. The model canselect a user interface based on certain criteria, such as one or morequeries received from an individual, a category of each of the one ormore queries, demographic information of the individual, advertisementconversion rates, predicted click through rates, other performancemetrics, and/or other information. A set of machine learners can learnfeatures that make different user interfaces effective under differentsituations. This model can provide a more complex and more scalableapproach than using human defined rules. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the model employs a logistic regression classifier thatpredicts or selects a user interface based on conversion rates. Oneexemplary method for generating a model for selecting a user interfaceis illustrated in FIG. 3 and discussed in more detail hereinafter.

In block 225, the information provider network device 110 receives aquery or a request for an advertisement. In one embodiment, anindividual, using the end user network device 155 enters a query into aweb page displayed by the browser 160 and submits the search query. Thesubmitted search query is transmitted to the information providernetwork device 110. In some implementations, selection of an ending dateor some other input on the calendar 206, the graph 208, or elsewhere inthe user interface 210 can result in the dismissal of the calendar 206and the graph 208. For example, the user 204 can be navigated to nextsteps in planning a trip, e.g., using the dates that have been selected.

In one embodiment, an advertisement request is sent to the informationprovider network device 110. For example, another web site provider maydisplay advertisements on web page documents delivered to individuals.If an individual accesses the web site, the provider may requestadvertisements to present to the individual. In such a request, theprovider may transmit content of the web page document so that theinformation provider 110 can provide advertisements and a user interfacefor presenting the advertisements related to that content. Some web siteproviders allow individuals to register and hold accounts with the website. An advertisement request sent from such a web site provider alsomay include information associated with the individual so that theinformation provider 110 can provide advertisements and a user interfacefor presenting the advertisements relevant to the individual. Of course,the individual may opt out of this feature or otherwise limit whatinformation is sent to the information provider 110. In addition, theinformation can be transmitted anonymously without any information thatwould identify the individual. For example, the information associatedwith the user may include certain demographic information, such as age,gender, and location only. In addition or in the alternative,demographic information may be stored by the information provider 110 orinferred from other data. The request also may include other informationfor use in selecting advertisements and a user interface for presentingthe advertisements, such as historical performance information obtainedfrom prior advertisement selections for the individual, as well asinformation regarding a number and type of advertisements to select.

In block 230, an advertisement selector module 123 of the advertisementdistribution system 120 selects one or more advertisements from theadvertisement repository 127 based on information contained in the queryor request for advertisements. In certain exemplary embodiments, theadvertisement selector module 123 selects a desired number ofadvertisements having desired content based on the information containedin the query or request, demographic information, time and dateinformation, performance information, and/or other information, such asbrand affinity information for the individual, payment affinityinformation for the individual, or portal affinity information for theindividual. For example, the advertisement selector module 123 mayselect a number of advertisements relevant to a query or request andhaving a product title, at least one image, and a product rating.

The advertisement selector module 123 also may select advertisementsfrom the advertisement repository 127 based on bid information andadvertisement or merchant performance information. Advertisement andmerchant performance information can be stored in an advertisement index137 maintained by the advertisement selector module 123. Thisperformance information can reflect the performance of eachadvertisement when selected for each query, and/or for each category ofquery for sets or sequences of queries. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the advertisement index 137 includes performanceinformation specific to the individual associated with a query oradvertisement request, including specific advertisement selectioninformation and/or historical interactions with previously-selectedadvertisements, such as click-throughs. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the performance information also reflects performance ofeach advertisement when presented by each user interface stored in theuser interface repository 129. Thus, the performance information canreflect a combination advertisement—user interface performance.

In block 235, a user interface selector module 125 of the advertisementdistribution system 120 selects a user interface from the user interfacerepository 129 for presenting the selected advertisements. In certainexemplary embodiments, the user interface selector module 125 appliesinformation contained in the query or request, information associatedwith the individual associated with the query or request, and/or otherinformation to the model or set of rules generated in block 220 toselect the user interface.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the user interface selector module 125determines and classifies the task that the individual associated withthe query or request is undertaking. To classify the task, the userinterface selector module 125 can evaluate information contained in thequery or request, information contained in multiple queries, and/oradvertisements that the individual associated with the query or requesthas selected or otherwise interacted with. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the user interface selector module 125 can evaluateinformation regarding how many related queries the individual hassubmitted and performance information for the user interfaces. The userinterface selector module 125 may use information from a current querysession only or a combination of current query session information withhistorical query and advertisement selection information.

User interface performance information can be stored in a user interfaceindex 139 maintained by the user interface selector module 125. Thisperformance information can reflect the performance of each userinterface when selected for each query, and/or for each category ofquery, for sets or sequences of queries. In certain exemplaryembodiments, the user interface index 139 includes performanceinformation specific to the individual associated with a query oradvertisement request, including specific user interface selectioninformation and/or historical interactions with previously-selected userinterfaces, such as click-throughs or mouse overs.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the user interface selector module 125selects more than one user interface from the user interface repository129. For example, the user interface selector module 125 may select oneuser interface for presenting a portion of the advertisements and asecond user interface for presenting another portion of theadvertisements. In another example, the user interface selector module125 may select two user interfaces for presenting the sameadvertisement.

Although the user interface selector module 125 typically selects theuser interface from the user interface repository 129 based in such away to improve the rate of selection, the user interface selector module125 also may present other user interfaces randomly or pseudo-randomlyto gain performance information on those user interfaces. Informationobtained through this process can be used to update the user interfaceindex 139 and/or the model for selecting user interfaces. Other methodsalso can be used to obtain performance information regarding userinterfaces. For example, a method that identifies combinations of userinterfaces that have occurred infrequently or a method that uses aconfidence value in predictions as an indicator of how much to explorepreviously unseen combinations also can be used in certain exemplaryembodiments. Thus, the model can continuously learn and improve inperformance.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the user interface selector module 125can override selections made by the advertisement selector module 123.In one example, certain selected advertisements may not include the typeof information required by the selected user interface. For instance,the user interface selector module 125 may reject an advertisement thatdoes not include images if the selected user interface requires at leastone image. The user interface selector module 125 also may re-orderadvertisements. In certain exemplary embodiments, the advertisement anduser interface selections are performed by the same model/rules tocapture interactions between user interfaces and products. Thus, theacts performed by the advertisement selector module 123 and the actsperformed by the user interface module 125 can be performed by a singlemodule.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the advertisements and the userinterfaces are selected and evaluated as a unit. For example, whenpresenting information regarding electronics, a user interface thatpresents three advertisements may result in a higher clickthrough rateper advertisement than a user interface that presents fiveadvertisements. This allows the predictions from the user interfacemodel/rules and the predictions from the advertisement model/rules to becombined, for example to produce a composite score. The advertisementdistribution system 120 can select the advertisements and user interfacecombination with higher performance, for example higher predictedclick-through rate, or higher dollar value ifbids are incorporated intothe model.

In block 240, the information provider network device 110 transmitsinformation regarding the selected advertisements and the selected userinterface. If the advertisements and user interface(s) are selected inresponse to a search query, the information is sent to the end usernetwork device 155. If the advertisements and user interface areselected in response to a request based on a search query, theinformation is sent to the entity that issued the request. Regardless ofwhat entity to which the information is sent, the information regardingthe advertisements includes information sufficient to allow the browser160 to display the selected advertisements via the selected userinterface.

If the advertisements are selected in response to a query, theinformation provider network 110 also transmits information regardingsearch results for the query. For example, the product catalog system140 can select from content stored in the product catalog 145 based onthe query, information regarding the individual that submitted thequery, past queries received from the individual, and/or otherinformation.

In block 245, the web browser 160 presents the advertisements via theuser interface. The web browser 160 also presents the information fromthe product catalog 145 if the advertisements were selected in responseto a search query. In certain exemplary embodiments, the user interfaceincludes a template and the web browser 160 displays the templatepopulated with information from the advertisements.

In certain exemplary embodiments, the advertisement distribution system120 can adjust the type of content displayed by the web browser 160. Forexample, is a user selects or mouses over an advertisement displayed bya user interface including images only, the advertisement distributionsystem 120 may receive information from the web browser 160 indicatingthis interaction and update other user interfaces to display images.

FIGS. 4-6 depict several exemplary user interfaces 400-600 havingadvertisements that may be transmitted and to a user device 155 andpopulated with information regarding the advertisements in response to aquery. In particular, the exemplary user interfaces 400-600 displayadvertisements that may be provided in response to a query for shoes.

Referring to FIG. 4 , the exemplary user interface 400 includesadvertisement 405 that displays merchant name “Online Shoe Store,” amerchant description “Selling shoes since 2002,” a price range, andimages of products offered by the merchant. The user interface 400 alsoincludes advertisements 410, 415 that also display a merchant name,merchant description, and price range, while not displaying any productimages. Each of the advertisements 405-415 can be configured to navigateto a web site of the merchant if the user selects the advertisement405-415, for example by clicking on the advertisement 405-415 using amouse or other pointing device.

The exemplary user interface 400 also includes tabs 455-470 disposedalong the perimeter. The tab 455 is configured to navigate to a web pagedocument that displays a multitude of shoe sellers. The tab 460 isconfigured to navigate to a web page that displays promotional offers,discounts, or other deals on the product of interest, in this caseshoes. The tab 465 is configured to navigate to a web page that displaysinformation regarding related products. The tab 470 is configured toexpand or to navigate to another web page that displays additionaladvertisements.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the exemplary user interface 500 includes the sameor similar tabs 455-470 as the user interface 400. The user interface500 also includes several advertisements 505-525 that vary in thecontent displayed. In particular, the exemplary advertisement 505 isproduct oriented and includes sections 505A-505C. The section 505Aincludes a product name “Womens Gorgeous Shoe,” a merchant name “OnlineShoe Store,” a product description, a price, a product image, and a linkto add the product to a virtual shopping list; the section 505B includesthe merchant name, “Online Shoe Store,” a promotional message, andproduct review information; and the section 505C includes images ofproducts offered by the merchant that are similar to the productdisplayed in section 505A. The exemplary advertisement 510 includes aproduct name “Baby/Toddler Black Shoe,” a merchant name “ShoeDiscounter,” and a product price. Similarly, the advertisement 515includes a product name “Black With 4 in Round-Toe An . . . ,” amerchant name “Girly Footwear,” and a product price. Each of theadvertisements 505-515 can be configured to navigate to a web site ofthe merchant if the user selects the advertisement 505-515, for exampleby clicking on the advertisement 505-515 using a mouse or other pointingdevice.

Referring to FIG. 6 , the exemplary user interface 600 includes a “ShowMore” tab 470 and advertisements 605-615. Each of the advertisements605-615 of the user interface 600 includes a product name, a merchantname, and a product price. As shown in FIGS. 4-6 , advertisements (orother content) may be presented to individuals using varying userinterfaces that display a variety of different information.

Although not shown in FIGS. 4-6 , each of the user interfaces 400-600also can include a “More like this” tab or icon proximal to eachadvertisement that, when selected, causes more advertisements havingsimilar content or a similar display format. For example, if anindividual desires advertisements that display additional productsoffered by a merchant, the individual may select a “More like this” icondisplayed on the advertisement 4-5 of FIG. 4 or the advertisement 505 ofFIG. 5 .

Referring back to FIG. 2 , in block 245, an interaction monitor module124 of the advertisement distribution system 120 monitors theindividual's interaction with the advertisements. In certain exemplaryembodiments, when the individual interacts with one or more of theadvertisements, such as by clicking on the display of an advertisementor mousing over an advertisement, the end user network device 155transmits information regarding the interaction to the informationprovider network device 11 o. In certain exemplary embodiments, theinteraction monitoring module 124 also monitors an amount of time anindividual spends at an advertiser's web site after activating anadvertisement or other information indicating the quantity of quality ofinteraction with an advertisement.

The interaction monitor module 124 also is capable of monitoringsequences of search queries. For example, an individual may search for aproduct in general terms and receive search results and advertisementsdirected to the general terms. If the individual does not receive anydesirable search results, the individual may refine the search andreceive a new set of search results and advertisements. The interactionupdate module 124 can store each query and any interactions with anadvertisement or user interface resulting from either of the searchqueries. The interaction update module also can store informationregarding a link that the individual selected in response to a searchquery. This information can then be used to update the model.

In block 250, depending on the type of interaction, the transmittal ofinformation regarding an interaction may include a request foradditional information from the advertiser, such as by following a linkto a web page selected by the advertiser. For example, when anindividual clicks on a displayed advertisement, the browser 160 mayprocess HTML code that causes a new browser window to open withadditional information relating to the request, such as a printablecoupon, a display advertisement, or a selected page of the advertiser'sweb site. In certain exemplary embodiments, interacting with theadvertisement can cause a change to an account of the individual withthe advertiser, such as by adding an item to purchase to theindividual's shopping cart of the advertiser's electronic commerce website, or by applying a discount to one or more items in the individual'sshopping cart.

In block 255, when the information provider network device 110 receivesinformation regarding the interaction with the advertisements, theinformation provider network device 110 updates the advertisement index137 or another storage device to indicate the interaction. For example,if an advertisement was activated or moused over, then the informationprovider network device 110 updates the advertisement index 137 toindicate this interaction. If multiple advertisements were presented andsome of the advertisements 139 were not interacted with, then theinformation provider network device 110 updates the advertisement indexto indicate this non-interaction. Likewise, the information providernetwork device 110 updates a user interface index 139 to indicate theinteraction with the user interface that presented the advertisement. Ifmultiple user interfaces were used to present advertisements and some ofthe user interfaces were not interacted with, then the informationprovider network device 110 updates the user interface index 139 toindicate this non-interaction. This information can be used forimproving the subsequent selections of advertisements and userinterfaces for presenting the advertisements, for determining a fee tobe charged to the advertiser, or for other purposes. For example, theinformation can be used by the model generator 121 to update the modelfor selecting a user interface from the user interface repository 129.

In block 260, the information provider network device 110 conducts aninquiry to determine whether another query or request for advertisementsis received. If the information provider network device 110 determinesthat another query or request is received, then the method 200 followsthe “Yes” branch back to block 230 where another advertisement or groupof advertisements are selected. Otherwise, the method 200 ends. Ofcourse, the information provider network device 110 can continue to beavailable to receive additional queries or requests.

FIG. 3 is a block flow diagram depicting a method 300 for generating amodel for selecting a user interface, in accordance with certainexemplary embodiments, as referenced in block 220 of FIG. 2 . In block305, the information provider network device 110 receives a query orrequest for an advertisement. In block 310, the advertisement selectormodule 123 selects advertisements to provide in response to the query orrequest. This block can be the same or similar to block 230 of FIG. 2 .

In block 315, a model generator module 121 of the advertisementdistribution system 120 interacts with the user interface selectormodule 125 to select a user interface for presenting the selectedadvertisements. In certain exemplary embodiments, the user interface isselected randomly or pseudo-randomly. In certain alternativeembodiments, the user interface is selected from a list or table, andthe model generator module 121 cycles through the user interfaces in thelist or table such that each of the user interfaces are presentedequally.

In block 320, the information provider network device 110 transmitsinformation regarding the selected advertisements and selected userinterface to the end user network device 155. The browser 160 presentsthe selected advertisements to the individual via the selected userinterface.

In block 325, the interaction monitor module 124 monitors forinteraction with the advertisements presented via the user interface,such as clicks or mouse overs. The interaction monitor module 124updates the user interface index 139 in block 330 to reflect theinteraction. These blocks can be the same or similar to blocks 245-255of FIG. 2 .

In block 335, the information provider network device 110 conducts aninquiry to determine whether another query or request for advertisementsis received. If the information provider network device 110 determinesthat another query or request is received, then the method 220 followsthe “Yes” branch back to block 310 where another advertisement or groupof advertisements are selected. Otherwise, the method 220 proceeds toblock 225 (FIG. 2 ).

Of course, the information provider network device 110 can continue tobe available to receive additional queries or requests and generate themodel. After the model is generated, the model can be placed intoservice and used to serve advertisements via the user interfaces, forexample, using the method 200 illustrated in FIG. 2 and discussed above.The model can continuously learn from user interactions to betterpredict the user interface desired for specific queries, for specificsets of queries, and for specific individuals.

General

The exemplary methods and blocks described in the embodiments presentedpreviously are illustrative, and, in alternative embodiments, certainblocks can be performed in a different order, in parallel with oneanother, omitted entirely, and/or combined between different exemplarymethods, and/or certain additional blocks can be performed, withoutdeparting from the scope and spirit of the invention. Accordingly, suchalternative embodiments are included in the invention described herein.

The invention can be used with computer hardware and software thatperforms the methods and processing functions described above. As willbe appreciated by those having ordinary skill in the art, the systems,methods, and procedures described herein can be embodied in aprogrammable computer, computer executable software, or digitalcircuitry. The software can be stored on computer readable media. Forexample, computer readable media can include a floppy disk, RAM, ROM,hard disk, removable media, flash memory, memory stick, optical media,magneto-optical media, CD-ROM, etc. Digital circuitry can includeintegrated circuits, gate arrays, building block logic, fieldprogrammable gate arrays (“FPGA”), etc.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described abovein detail, the description is merely for purposes of illustration.Various modifications of, and equivalent blocks corresponding to, thedisclosed aspects of the exemplary embodiments, in addition to thosedescribed above, can be made by those having ordinary skill in the artwithout departing from the spirit and scope of the invention defined inthe following claims, the scope of which is to be accorded the broadestinterpretation so as to encompass such modifications and equivalentstructures.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computing system, comprising: one or moreprocessors; and one or more non-transitory computer readable media thatcollectively store instructions that when executed by the one or moreprocessors cause the one or more processors to perform operations, theoperations comprising: receiving, from a user computing deviceassociated with a user, a query comprising one or more search terms;selecting one or more search results responsive to the query; selecting,based at least in part on previous interaction information for the userassociated with the query, a first user interface format from two ormore user interface formats for presenting at least a portion of the oneor more search results; determining if each of the one or more searchresults correspond to the first user interface format selected from thetwo or more user interface formats; and transmitting instructionscausing the user computing device to render a graphical user interfacehaving the first user interface format for presenting the one or moresearch results that correspond to the first user interface format. 2.The computing system of claim 1, wherein selecting the first userinterface format from the two or more user interface formats comprises:providing the previous interaction information regarding the userassociated with the query to a model; and receiving, as an output of themodel, the first user interface format based at least in part on theprevious interaction information.
 3. The computing system of claim 2,wherein the operations further comprise generating the model.
 4. Thecomputing system of claim 1, wherein selecting the first user interfaceformat from the two or more user interface formats comprises: applyingthe previous interaction information regarding the user associated withthe query and information contained in the query to a set of rules, theset of rules indicating which of the two or more user interface formatsis more likely to receive a selection by the user.
 5. The computingsystem of claim 1, wherein the previous interaction information for theuser comprises at least one of a user selection of one or more previoussearch results, an indication that the user hovered over one or moreprevious search results, a number of related queries received from theuser, or merchants, advertisers, or advertisement that receive a highestamount of clicks from the user.
 6. The computing system of claim 1,wherein each of the two or more user interface formats comprises acorresponding template for displaying specified content of the one ormore search results.
 7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein thefirst user interface format from the two or more user interface formatsis selected based at least in part on the previous interactioninformation and demographic information of the user.
 8. The computingsystem of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise determining atype of the query based on the search terms, wherein the first userinterface format from the two or more user interface formats comprisesis selected based at least in part on the previous interactioninformation for the user associated with the query and the type of thequery.
 9. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the operationsfurther comprise: transmitting, to the user computing device, one ormore selected advertisements for presentation with the one or moresearch results.
 10. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the one ormore search results comprise advertisements.
 11. One or morenon-transitory computer readable media that collectively storeinstructions that when executed by one or more processors cause the oneor more processors to perform operations, the operations comprising:receiving, from a user computing device associated with a user, a querycomprising one or more search terms; selecting one or more searchresults responsive to the query; selecting, based at least in part onprevious interaction information for the user associated with the query,a first user interface format from two or more user interface formatsfor presenting at least a portion of the one or more search results;determining if each of the one or more search results correspond to thefirst user interface format selected from the two or more user interfaceformats; and transmitting instructions causing the user computing deviceto render a graphical user interface having the first user interfaceformat for presenting the one or more search results that correspond tothe first user interface format.
 12. The one or more non-transitorycomputer readable media of claim 11, wherein selecting the first userinterface format from the two or more user interface formats comprises:providing the previous interaction information regarding the userassociated with the query to a model; and receiving, as an output of themodel, the first user interface format based at east in part on theprevious interaction information.
 13. The one or more non-transitorycomputer readable media of claim 12, wherein the operations furthercomprise generating the model.
 14. The one or more non-transitorycomputer readable media of claim 11, wherein selecting the first userinterface format from the two or more user interface formats comprises:applying the previous interaction information regarding the userassociated with the query and information contained in the query to aset of rules, the set of rules indicating which of the two or more userinterface formats is more likely to receive a selection by the user. 15.The one or more non-transitory computer readable media of claim 11,wherein the previous interaction information for the user comprises atleast one of a user selection of one or more previous search results, anindication that the user hovered over one or more previous searchresults, a number of related queries received from the user, ormerchants, advertisers, or advertisement that receive a highest amountof clicks from the user.
 16. The one or more non-transitory computerreadable media of claim 11, wherein the operations further comprisedetermining a type of the query based on the search terms, wherein thefirst user interface format from the two or more user interface formatscomprises is selected based at least in part on the previous interactioninformation for the user associated with the query and the type of thequery.
 17. A method to select a user interface format for presenting oneor more search results responsive to a query, the method comprising: bya computing system: receiving, from a user computing device associatedwith a user, a query comprising one or more search terms; selecting oneor more search results responsive to the query; selecting, based atleast in part on previous interaction information for the userassociated with the query, a first user interface format from two ormore user interface formats for presenting at least a portion of the oneor more search results; determining if each of the one or more searchresults correspond to the first user interface format selected from thetwo or more user interface formats; and transmitting instructionscausing the user computing device to render a graphical user interfacehaving the first user interface format for presenting the one or moresearch results that correspond to the first user interface format. 18.The method of claim 17, wherein selecting the first user interfaceformat from the two or more user interface formats comprises: providingthe previous interaction information regarding t user associated withthe query to a model; and receiving, as an output of the model, thefirst user interface format based at east in part on the previousinteraction information.
 19. The method of claim 17, wherein selectingthe first user interface format from the two or more user interfaceformats comprises: applying the previous interaction informationregarding the user associated with the query and information containedin the query to a set of rules, the set of rules indicating which of thetwo or more user interface formats is more likely to receive a selectionby the user.
 20. The method of claim 17, wherein the previousinteraction information for the user comprises at least one of a userselection of one or more previous search results, an indication that theuser hovered over one or more previous search results, a number ofrelated queries received from the user, or merchants, advertisers, oradvertisement that receive a highest amount of clicks from the user.